Release Date: May 20, 2025
ISBN: 978-1-940535-37-1
192 pages

Maybe it's happened to you too. You're talking to a friend about your favorite games, and their voice suddenly drops to a whisper. "Have you played... Outer Wilds?" When you ask what makes the game so special, their only response is a smile and a promise: "Go play it. You'll see." After enough of these cryptic conversations, you finally try the game—and suddenly you're the one praising Outer Wilds to anyone who will listen.

In this volume, novelist and escape room designer Tommy Wallach explains how a project that began as a USC student's master's thesis ended up winning "Game of the Year" from Giant Bomb, Polygon, Eurogamer, and The Guardian. Along the way, he'll discuss how Outer Wilds uses theme to reconcile the age-old battle between narrative and gameplay; how its unique form of knowledge-based gating spurs player curiosity; how it offers up true mystery without resorting to videogame-y puzzles; and how its spectacular DLC, Echoes of the Eye, remains true to the spirit of the base game while transforming its tone completely.

Tommy Wallach is the author of five young adult novels, including We All Looked Up, which spent over six months on the New York Times bestseller list. As a screenwriter, he's sold numerous projects, including the thriller Delilah (Screen Gems) and a limited series about the JonBenet Ramsey case (Paramount+). He was signed to Decca/Universal as a singer-songwriter, and his original musical Vicky & Frank was recently optioned by eight-time Tony Award winning producer Joey Parnes. Tommy is the co-owner of Hatch Escapes, creators of the tabletop game Mother of Frankenstein and the escape rooms Lab Rat, ranked the eighth best room in the world in 2018, and The Ladder, which the LA Times described as "redefining the medium."